The Sydney Swans will inject six senior players into Sunday afternoon’s NAB Cup clash with St Kilda at Etihad Stadium.

The Swans have named 2012 Bob Skilton Medallist Josh Kennedy as well as Lewis Jetta, Jude Bolton, Mike Pyke and Lewis Roberts-Thomson.

Sunday’s match will also mark the return of small forward Ben McGlynn, who has not played since he injured his hamstring in last year’s semi-final against Adelaide.

Swans coach John Longmire told SwansTV that the addition of more senior players would add some much needed experience on the field this weekend.

“It’s always difficult when you’ve got kids playing their first taste of AFL football and there are others around them that are also getting their first taste, so it’s good to have some senior players around the younger kids,” he said.

“It will be good to get some senior boys back into the team and get some vital match conditioning under their belt.”

Swans co-captain Jarrad McVeigh and Norm Smith medallist Ryan O’Keefe will sit out this weekend’s clash, along with Craig Bird who will also be rested for the match.

“Only a couple of senior players won’t be playing this week and that’s Ryan O’Keefe and Jarrad McVeigh who played last week,” Longmire said.

“Craig Bird is another one who has a bit of a niggling injury at the moment which means he may miss this week as well, so they are the three players from last week who won’t be there this week.”

Holding their place in the squad from the Swans’ round one squad are new recruits Dean Towers and Dane Rampe, who will play their first interstate match with the Swans this weekend.

Longmire said both players are excited to get another chance for the Swans this NAB Cup.

“There weren’t a lot of highlights for us last week but we thought a couple of the kids did OK and those two will get another chance to play senior footy, which is fantastic,” he said.

“They’ll get out on Etihad Stadium under the roof and experience that so it’s another challenge for those kids but they’re really looking forward to it.”

Looking ahead to Sunday’s match, Longmire said he expected an experienced St Kilda side to take the field this weekend, with a number of senior players likely to return for the Saints.

“St Kilda have already talked about bringing some more senior players back as well so players like Sam Fisher and alike will be available this week,” he said.

“They had some senior boys play last week so we’ve had some good battles with St Kilda and both teams are obviously looking to sharpen up and get ready for when the season proper starts.”

Both teams will have to adapt to new interchange rules this weekend, which will see interchange rotations capped at 80 for the match

Longmire said the new rules, which will be trialled for the remainder of the NAB Cup, will be a dramatic change to the Swans’ interchange habits in the regular season.

“For the next couple of rounds for the NAB Cup it will be a limited interchange of 80,” he said.

“During the home and away season we probably average around 134, so that is a difference and is a significant difference.

“They’ve also introduced three subs, which will be of benefit hopefully for some of our players coming back from injury that we get game time into the next couple of weeks.

“We can have three on the bench plus three subs that we can bring on any time during the course of the game.”

Sydney Swans Round 2 NAB Cup Squad